Going Offline – Deliveroo Opens Its First Physical Store

The expansion of all things digital and their penetration into virtually every pore of our lives is more or less clear and obvious to everyone, but every now and then, something happens that reminds us that there is still a world outside of the Internet and that business can, and should also be done there. The most recent such example is the decision made by Deliveroo, one of the world’s leading online food delivery companies, to branch out of the environment that has provided it with immense wealth and rise in popularity over the past couple of years, and open its first physical store in an effort to build on its current potential and test out new commercial opportunities.

Bold New Restaurant Concept

Deliveroo has chosen Hong Kong as the location for a brick-and-mortar restaurant, citing the Southeast Asia territory as the perfect spot for an innovative restaurant concept that the company feels can be a great addition to its existing business model. Deliveroo’s restaurant is imagined as a place where food will be prepared for online orders made through their app, as well as a location where visitors can come in an dine just like at any other traditional restaurant.

Called Deliveroo Food Market, the store will offer menus from different restaurants that have partnered up with the UK-based tech company, that will include dishes from various globally popular cuisines. In the first stage, a total of five restaurants will have their presence in the Deliveroo Food Market, for a total of 15 dining concepts.

Multiple Benefits to Restaurants and Consumers

Deliveroo says that this concept can be highly beneficial to both its partner restaurants and consumers. When it comes to restaurants, offering their services via Food Market will allow them to test out new food concepts without having to open up their own physical stores, which would add to their operating costs and hurt their bottom line. Also, this would be a great chance for them to reach new customers outside of the neighborhoods they are currently present in.

As far as consumers are concerned, they will get to go into this location and order foods from several different restaurants and try different food concepts, either dining there or taking their orders to go, which gives an added flexibility to the dining experience.

With this move, the established online delivery company is set to become an even more attractive partner for restaurants around the globe, and get that much closer to consumers as well, making Food Market a perfect example of the great potential that the offline world has for even the most advanced digital companies.